PiaggioUSA 2008 Fall Dealer Meeting

September 29, 2008

From our spies at Piaggio’s fall dealer meeting:

Dinner meeting features Jay Leno: 45 minutes of stand up, closing with “when Piaggio called me they said, ‘we don’t have much money,’ and I said ‘I’ll do it free, I’m Italian, I want to support an Italian product, I like Italian bikes,’ then I get here and find out how your sales are up and your dealers aren’t exactly hurtin’.

I’m sure it’s true that PiaggioUSA isn’t as cash-heavy as their sales would indicate, but I hope he’s joking. I’m not a huge Leno fan, but no one should be working trade shows or sales meetings for free.

Piaggio announced the Vespa S, the GTS300 Super, introduced the MP3 Hybrid which should deliver 200cc power from a 125cc / lithium powerplant.

The S has been out for months, and the 250 Super came out a month or so ago misbadged as a 300 Super. If the real 300cc version is coming, that’s good news. The MP3 HyS hybrid has been appearing at shows for about a year, with another big italian press conference a couple weeks ago (machine-translated press release below.)

Talked about the Aprilia SportCity 50 which will hit dealers @ $2000.

An affordable (though likely chinese-built) Aprilia scooter is good news, especially in the U.S., where Aprilia scooters seem to be largely ignored by dealers.

Moto Guzzi showed off a new stripped-down 750cc bike that looks great, they immediately shifted gears (pushed buttons) to focus on the Aprilia Mana 850 push-button automatic and then got into their new supermotard and their RSV litre-class bikes.

After last week’s announcement, it seems likely Moto Guzzi will be focusing on more mainstream (in price and design) bikes. The Aprilia Mana has been drooled over by motorcycle-aspirant scooterists for some time now, will it be the first successful automatic motorcycle… ever? Doubt it, but it probably should be.

After the buffet, Piaggio USApresident Paolo Timoni rode on stage on the mp3 hybrid, predicting it will be available by Christmas ’09.

So the HyS engine debuted in April, 2007 (in the Milan tests) and was first displayed in the MP3 in August, 2007. In November 2007, it was rumored to be available in late 2008, now they’re saying late 2009 for America (though it’ll likely be available in Europe sooner). That seems like one of Piaggio and PiaggioUSA’s biggest problems, they unveil bikes sometimes more than a year before they’re available, then delay the U.S. release even longer. Once they’re available here, they’re old news (and more expensive, the exchange rate isn’t doing us any favors, either). I shudder to think what a U.S.-market MP3 hybrid will cost.

I’m not an economist, but I believe that means they’re claiming they sold 11% of the scooters sold in America, and made 37% of the retail profit on scooters sold in America. Seems high, but possible. If those numbers come from the Motorcycle Industry Council (Piaggio’s usually do), they ignore an awful lot of brands that aren’t MIC members, though, including most Chinese bikes and even (if I remember correctly) Genuine, who almost certainly outsold Piaggio bike-for-bike.

What else? Well, there are pictures!

Check out that ghetto-fabulous new grille on the MP3! I’ll clean these up later and label them better.

Always attentive to issues of mobility and an eco-compatible,
Piaggio has a hybrid engines will revolutionize the
the field of urban mobility. Not simply a “scooter with two
engines, but a new, advanced concept vehicle that integrates
the traditional propulsion thermal low environmental impact with the
vehicle emission-free electricity, creating a synergy
winning. The solution MP3 HYS, the Hybrid Scooter Piaggio guarantees
Using a 360 degrees, with full respect for the environment, on operating costs
even less and takes equipment innovation, security and
fun in the guide are decreeing that the success of Piaggio MP3,
the revolutionary three-wheeled scooter.

The scooter is synonymous with urban mobility is the ideal way to extricate
quickly in traffic congested metropolis, but also for
pleasant evasion on weekends.
In recent years, however, the need to reduce the levels of emissions
gaseous pollutants has resulted in restricted traffic areas
ever wider. Areas which often scooters are banned.
They are born so the electric vehicles, thanks to a propeller to “emissions
zero “can move anywhere.
Both engines, heat and electricity, have strengths and weaknesses
that in many cases, are complementary: large autonomy,
power and “elongated” for spark ignition engines, which are penalized but
from the exhaust gas (albeit strictly regulated by
Euro 3), zero emissions and inspired by particularly strong
Brilliant, however, for electric propulsion which are also limited
the lack of autonomy of the batteries and maximum speeds contained.
With Piaggio MP3 HYS no longer needs to choose between performance and ecology,
between a vehicle to go to work and a center for the most
long, too suburban.
MP3 HYS moved from revolutionary hybrid propulsion system that Piaggio
developed with a decisive evolution of urban mobility,
combining the advantages of a gasoline engine than the electric motor.
The solution HYS is not limited to offer two distinct possibility
propulsion, but incorporates them into a sophisticated system that allows
combine the power of the engine heat and a hint of the electrical. MP3
HYS is fun and safe in the suburban stretches in which sports
the higher dynamic characteristics of Piaggio MP3 and may also travel
ZTL in two scooter in a short, mobility for a safe, easy,
Economic and fun to 360 degrees.

Two engines in one

Piaggio MP3 HYS adopting a hybrid propulsion of a “parallel” in which
two engines, electrical and burst, are integrated with each other and mechanically
electronically and are able to simultaneously provide power
to the wheel, resulting in a technical synergy winner.
In this integrated propulsion thermal / electric engine “heat”, ie
than petrol, works like a normal catalysed four-stroke engine,
with excellent performance, low emission, low consumption and wide autonomy.
The automatic transmission, electric start and power system Ride-By –
Wire, ensure the usual liveliness and ease of use is in town
in suburban locations. But during normal operation the engine
heat, besides ensuring the brilliant performance of the vehicle, also takes
charging the batteries intended to fuel the ‘soul power’ of
vehicle, thus canceling the limit of their capacity.
The “cooperation” between the two propellers of Piaggio MP3 HYS does not stop
here: every time an application is particularly lively,
As departures from detention, the electric motor comes into action and
supports the propeller heat, providing superior performance up to 85%
they offer the vehicle promptly and effectively in the first meters, that is precisely
when used in town driving.
The synergy of the two engines, obtained through electronic management
integrated, can have not only improved performance, but also a
reducing consumption of gasoline (distance up to 60 km / l) and
CO2, which falls just 40 g / km (Value 65% usage on hybrid
and 35% electrical).
But HYS is not just a “common”, sophisticated propulsion system
hybrid: where others stop scooter, Piaggio MP3 HYS proceed
speedy and quiet, thanks to the possibility of operating with the sole
electric motor. Just because a simple rotation of the selector post
on the handlebars to disconnect the engine heat and turn into an MP3 HYS
scooter totally ecological, a “Zero Emission Vehicle that can move
with full rights in all zones to spark ignition engines. Another
rotation of the selector, and every issue of autonomy disappears: the engine
heat it awakens, again became the main propeller of the vehicle,
recharging the batteries while traveling areas open to normal traffic
veicolistico. Once in the garage you can choose to recharge the batteries
through powerlines, with integrated charger
nell’elettronica board. This will reduce operating costs,
given the lower cost of electricity compared to that of
gasoline.

So much technology at hand

While adopting innovative technology solutions, the absolute edge,
HYS is extremely easy and intuitive use.
The driver, in addition to operating the vehicle through the normal controls, has a
Dial a special provision to set different modes
operational: two and two hybrid electric (including reverse).
HYS operates the power supplied by two engines (heat and electricity) for
through a system of type Ride-By-Wire: the torque required by
the pilot, acting on accelerator and brake, is processed by the system
Integrated electronic management which, according to various parameters (for
as the state charging the batteries), appropriately allocate the
power between the two engines. In terms of deceleration and braking, the
control system recovers and accumulates energy in the battery, energy
in ordinary vehicles is lost.
The hybrid modes have been designed with a view to maximizing the
performance, consumption and battery power scooter.
In pure electric mode, however, HYS off the engine to burst,
to a quiet electric vehicle gas emissions to zero.
Particularly useful in parking maneuvers are the ways
Reverse, which uses propeller-driven electricity. Furthermore, the
control type Ride-By-Wire, not only enables the system to control the
more timely delivery of the combined power of two engines,
but “requires” the heat engine working at points of maximum
efficiency, thereby reducing specific consumption, with obvious advantages in
terms of lower consumption and lower emissions.

There is so much technology … but not seen. From an aesthetic Piaggio
MP3 HYS is identical to the vehicle propulsion “traditional” from which derives.
MP3 HYS resumed, all the gifts of safety and driving fun
are decreeing that the success of the family Piaggio MP3, the three-wheeler
that is changing the world of
The traction batteries are “hidden” in the underseat compartment, which keeps
also sufficient space to house a helmet and other items. The
level of battery power is always under the eye of the driver,
through an indicator integrated into the dashboard. The charges via network
electricity occurs simply through a standard electric cable
insert a picture off, into the socket. The charging time is
about 3 hours.

Leno charges a lot for personal appearances unless they’re to promote his show, etc. I imagine Piaggio paid a pretty penny—a little Net research could probably turn up his appearance fee. Maybe they paid him off in scoots. He should like the MP3 HyS.

Introducing an MP3 with less power than the 250? I think the hybrids are a good idea, but according to Piaggios earlier press releases on the HyS, the LX and other versions are supposed to have more power than their gas-only counterparts.